“She tries to lie still, but she's forgotten how. On the farm everything had been still. The silence was a complete thing. She could touch it with her fingers, taste it with her mouth, and sit in it like bathwater. Things took time on the farm; they gathered and grew. You sat and drank tea on the stoep and didn't think about whether it was day or night. But here she feels like being lived; outside the curtains people are shouting, children are laughing, trains are running, and buses are leaving.” SilenceQuietNoiseSouth AfricaCity Life Book:The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years Source: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
“The end always returns to the beginning; the circle always seeks to be whole, and so when the end comes for Meena Begum, she is remembering the river and the way it runs through the village like a person, like a friend with a laughing face and open arms. She can hear the sound of rain and the way it fills the river like a drumbeat as it carries away twenty-one grams of soul.” SoulDeath Book:The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years Source: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
“It walked to many places in the world and swam through many seas. It moved among men and watched how they lived and how they fought. Men were the same everywhere—power-hungry creatures always engaged in wars. They smelled bad and were selfish and told lies, especially to themselves.” Men Book:The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years Source: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
“When they left for South Africa to work on a farm, she thought they were escaping. She thought, as many of them did, that it was a way out. The new land showed promise: Indian indentured labor had been abolished, opportunities were arising in the growing Indian settlements in Natal and Transvaal, neighbors and friends were all leaving. They said it was better in Africa for them. But her family realized too late, the British were the same whether they were in South Africa or India; their brown skin would always hold the same currency. Her family still lived in poverty, they were punished for their skin color, and they were still answerable to the white man for everything they did. It was still slavery, just in different packaging.” FreedomSlaverySouth AfricaBritish EmpireColonizationIndentured Servant Book:The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years Source: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years